Dragon Quest I + II HD-2D Remake Review (PC) – Power Of Legacy

Dragon Quest III received a remake back in 2024 that used the new HD-2D engine pioneered in Octopath Traveler, and I absolutely loved it. With the latest remake of the series, we now have the rest of the Erdrick trilogy in the same engine. Does it hold up? It’s time to find out in The Outerhaven’s review of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.

Game Name: Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Square Enix
Publisher(s): Square Enix
Release Date: October 30th, 2025
Price: $59.99

The Story of Dragon Quest I takes place years after the resolution of the conflict in Dragon Quest III, where your hero becomes the first Erdrick. Now, a descendant of your hero in that game is traveling after hearing rumors about darkness plaguing the land. He must journey to Tantagel to find his calling and save a princess from a Dragonlord. While Dragon Quest II occurs years later when kingdoms descended from the Dragon Quest I Erdrick have arisen. These kingdoms house heirs of Erdrick’s bloodline. The focus is on these heirs as they strive to save the land from a dark presence known as Hargon, who has recently destroyed one of the kingdoms tied to Erdrick’s legacy.

Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake

The gameplay of these HD-2D remakes largely remains unchanged from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, so I won’t go too deep into the details there, but I do want to touch on aspects of both games. Dragon Quest I feature only one character traveling the world, with a reworked balance that introduces parties of enemies rather than just single foes that increase in strength with each area. When I first previewed the games, I was concerned about how the endgame would feel, mainly because we only experienced an early portion of the first game. My surprise came when I found how strong the main hero becomes through exploration and discovery.

Every seed you find in pots, pans, dressers, and after encounters goes directly to your main hero, and these add up significantly. Even when facing large groups of enemy mobs, you rarely feel overwhelmed. As you find scrolls in bookshelves and treasure chests, your arsenal grows mightier. The balance makes you feel like you’re playing a power fantasy. My hero was one-shotting entire mobs with AoE spells. Once I learned Kazap, I could essentially wipe out whole enemy groups. Mobs became trivial. Occasionally, fast enemies can surprise you by striking first, but overall, once you’ve explored every hidden corner, found every pot, and looted all the treasure chests, random encounters become easy to manage.

The real meat and potatoes of the combat come into play during boss fights. Most are one-on-one encounters. At the beginning of the fight, things feel even—you trade attacks. Once the boss reaches half health, they gain bonuses. Sometimes they get more attacks per turn; other times, they unlock new moves that can surprise you. That’s when you need to adapt—raising defense, boosting attack, or changing your strategy entirely.

Dragon Quest II HD-2D Remake

Dragon Quest I’s narrative remained largely unchanged. Some new scenes play out, and as my preview speculated, we finally got the magic, thief, and ultimate key systems implemented. Dragon Quest II, however, is a completely new ball game. Not only do we now have a fourth permanent party member with the princess of Cannock joining the fray, but there are far more dungeons, events, memories, and secret spots to discover. Since most Dragon Quest games after II are already designed around a four-person party, balancing was easy. Even so, I wasn’t expecting how much the princess of Cannock adds to both the narrative and overall tone.

I kept the default name of Matilda for the princess of Cannock since I left the prince as Caradoc. That way, both the prince and princess of Cannock shared the same kingdom. I renamed the prince of Middenhall and the princess of Moonbrooke. Matilda adds a fun dynamic to the hot-headed, heart-of-gold prince Caradoc. Caradoc is impulsive and believes everyone is sincere, while Matilda is more socially aware and discerning. We see this play out in multiple scenes, adding depth to the princess of Moonbrooke, who becomes cynical after her kingdom’s destruction and initially seeks revenge. It takes traveling and witnessing events firsthand for her to realize revenge isn’t the real motivation for defeating Hargon. Some scenes are truly emotional, especially with Matilda’s role in the party. I loved these additions, and even though they extend Dragon Quest II’s runtime, they made me care deeply about the cast of four.

They brought back the Tombola tickets from the original Dragon Quest II, adding a fun layer of chance to equipment hunting. If you use a Tombola ticket at a Tombola bar, you can spin a gachapon with prizes in five colors: platinum, gold, silver, bronze, and green. This nods to Dragon Quest II’s original system but uses mechanics closer to Dragon Quest V’s version. You can use a single ticket for one pull or 10 tickets for 10 pulls at once. Later towns increase the number of tickets required to spin the gachapon.

Voice Acting Brings the World to Life

One of the main additions in Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is full voice acting. I really enjoyed the performances, especially in Dragon Quest II. It was quite humorous at the start of Dragon Quest I when everyone doubted the hero because he didn’t have a party like heroes of old. Having those moments voiced made me laugh and added personality to supporting NPCs, like the princess’s main guard or the captain’s daughter.

Dragon Quest II is where the voice acting truly shines. Each of the scions of Erdrick has great chemistry, which adds tremendous charm and makes the cast more endearing. I loved the scene where all three-party members bombard your hero for saying a line incorrectly—you’re forced to repeat it until you get it right. Normally, I dislike when dialogue choices reset, but here it works, since the party members are so outspoken. Your silent protagonist would never side with Hargon unless it was over the others’ dead bodies—and they make that clear. You even get chances to chime in when the others argue, usually at the expense of the airheaded prince of Cannock.

One thing worth noting is that I played Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake on Steam Deck, just like I did with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. It ran locked at 60 FPS, even in dense forested areas, and looked stunning. This is a clear improvement over Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake’s performance. I’m glad Square Enix further optimized the engine for Steam Deck.

The Return of Dragon Quest

The Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is an absolute beauty. I do wish Dragon Quest I had received a bit more content like Dragon Quest II did, but I understand why Square Enix chose to preserve the original experience while linking it to the grander scope of Dragon Quest III and II. I recommend playing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake first for the best experience, but it’s not required.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake will release on October 30th, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Review Disclosure Statement: Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake was provided to us by Square Enix for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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